Crystal Ponies
Crystal Ponies first appear in the third season's opening two-parter The Crystal Empire. Crystal Ponies are distinct by their shiny, gradient manes and tails, and most of the time, polygonal reflections in their eyes. Twilight Sparkle blames King Sombra for the Crystal Ponies' lack of a "crystally" coat.__TOC__ Depiction in the series and Spike attempting to question a Crystal Pony about what happened to her home.]] The Crystal Ponies were enslaved by King Sombra when he took over the Crystal Empire. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna turned him to shadow and imprisoned him in ice, but before they did he cast a curse on the Crystal Empire causing it and the Crystal Ponies to vanish into thin air. When they returned approximately a thousand years later, they had no memory of the kingdom before Sombra came to power, and the memory of him brought them pain. Sombra also returned, but Princess Cadence cast a spell to protect them with a magic barrier. The Mane 6 and Spike set up the "Crystal Faire" based on a book they found, hoping to restore their memories with their history and find out what can defeat Sombra and protect the empire for good, since Cadence was running out of energy. History discovered includes a fondness for jousting, a flag design, the creation of sweets with crystal berries, the operation of a petting zoo with tiny ewes, the playing of a crystal flugelhorn, and an anthem of the "Crystal Kingdom". With this, the Crystal Ponies regain their memory of the empire. Twilight Sparkle turned a crystal rock into a crystal heart for the fair, but upon finding out that the Crystal Heart was a magical object that would protect the empire, set out to look for it while her friends kept the Crystal Ponies occupied at the fair so they would not know that the Crystal Heart had not yet returned, since this would bring them fear and make it easier for Sombra to return. Eventually Sombra returned, much to the Crystal Ponies' horror. However, Spike retrieved the Crystal Heart for Cadence, who returned it to its original position. Together she and the Crystal Ponies unleashed the power of the Crystal Heart, restoring their crystal appearance once more and destroying Sombra. One crystal pony mentioned Cadence as the "Crystal Princess". Other depictions Upcoming and leaked toys depict Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Ploomette, Princess Cadence, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle with the appearance of Crystal Ponies. A blurb on the Crystal Empire packaging of one such Fluttershy toy states that "FLUTTERSHY has a tea party to make friends with the CRYSTAL EMPIRE ponies—they seem just as shy as her!" The Adventures in the Crystal Empire DVD cover also depicts the six main ponies with the appearance of Crystal Ponies. While Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle all have polygonal eye reflections, and in Applejack's case polygonal freckles, Pinkie Pie and Rarity have their usual rounded eye reflections. Hasbro-licensed translucent Special Edition Crystal Pony keychains of Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity made by Basic Fun were presented at the February 2011 Toy Fair; Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were released later in the same year, but Applejack and Rarity have not been released. See also *Unicorns *Earth ponies *Pegasus ponies References Category:Characters